Imperfect Strangers

Melissa's back and she's full of affirmations and a positive-ish outlook on life. "She's looking good today. She's looking good in every way..." Buffalo Stance. Amanda, delighted by Melissa's new perspective, shares an interesting factoid about buffalo and storms. Did you know, unlike humans who run from or wait out storms, buffalo wait for the storm to cross right over the crest of the peak of th...

This week we have a chat with Stranger Friend Victor aka: @dayvvic aka: Victlissa and get to know more about the man who is always making us laugh in the Monday Night Live and Discord chats. Victor shares what it's like to work in retail post-pandemic, gives us a glimpse into his family life and schools Amanda on what it means to be part of the Lambily.

This week Psychic Medium Kareen Boebel speaks with Amanda about her podcast Walking on Feathers, out of body experiences and what she wishes more people knew about psychic mediums.

Can you believe come Thanksgiving, Amanda and I will have been at this podcasting thing for two whole years?! If you’ve been here from the beginning, you know how far we’ve come in technical terms of sound and format. (Hush, we know I haven’t come far with technologies, but focus!) As two independent, self-taught podcasters we are excited and proud of this little creative endeavor that’s become a...

On this opposites attract ass episode, Amanda says she loved dressing her kids in all the over-the-top fashions including ruffles and bows, a category of whimsical kids clothing we now officially deem as Curlz Font. Melissa, ever the judgmental curmudgeon, is like nah. How are these two still becoming friends? Amanda, you can exit stage left at any time! Melissa hates everything, LOL. They do, how...

One this episode, Amanda reminds all the elderladies to get those titties checked. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month after all. Melissa tells a story of Justin Beck at a Black family funeral and his first Thanksgiving with the beloved Shorty and Mercy. Also, do you sometimes root for scammers? Melissa said she did until Amanda reminded her she shouldn’t.

On this very grown-up episode of Imperfect Strangers meets House Hunters, Amanda is in the mood to move. Amanda, ever the adult, loves a Zillow listing. She knows all about square footage, location location location and renovations — which Melissa dreads having lived through it once and once alone hence she’s in her forever home. Melissa bursts Amanda’s bubble by telling her Boston is known to be...

Mercury is in retrograde. Amanda’s fish are very fertile, but Melissa ain’t because she thinks she’s arrived at perimenopause. Aaah. Old age. Elbows, tops of hands, necks and bottom teeth — do you know that these body parts are dead giveaways? Dead giveaaaaway that you are old. The ladies also ask the age-old question — why are men? Which leads to a discussion about how Chris and Justin, the trust...

Melissa is experiencing chronic pain for the first time in her life and wow, cool OLD. There’s some talk about getting old about the face — who hasn’t stopped to examine their face in a pandemic? If you have, why? Let’s not do that. Elsewhere in this great podcast that you’re definitely gonna listen to, Amanda is looking for the ultimate, fulfilling SAHM job with unicorn hours and pay and it’s pro...

Amanda tells Melissa about her weekend anniversary trip to a tiny house in West Virginia where she and Chris are still so in love with each other and the earth that they shared a singular towel. The two also discuss the comfort and familiarity in finding your person and staying married for hella years. Amanda morphs into Drake and asks Melissa if she ever gets lonely (but not if she’s high right n...

Amanda and Melissa welcome you with Creed-style arms wide open as they kick off the fourth season of Imperfect Strangers Podcast, your favorite podcast of all time. Come and knock on our door, and Amanda will answer because Melissa doesn’t do that, but. Sit down. Coffee? Let’s talk about porcelain veneers, Ivermectin, abortion, soccer coaching, body dysmorphia, door-to-door scammers and high-waist...

On the season three finale, Melissa and Amanda have suddenly realized that people, strangers and blood relatives and prospective bosses, might actually really listen to the show! LOL. How would they know? They’re not gonna know. They’re gonna know! That said: Amanda shares more deeply about her great interest in the occult, paranormal and her budding psychic mediumship. She recently received accur...

In their first conversation after a rollercoaster of an emotional, hormonal and awkward Monday Night Live (if you missed it, just know the future of podcast was in danger, LOL), Amanda Lee Bong had the nerve to say she thought Adam Duritz was “spicy white” like Melissa’s husband Justin Beck so this episode opens with a BANG. The theme for today is caucasity — the wholesome kind we can all get behi...

Amanda goes into a real cave. Melissa enters an emotional one. The two hold hands.

This episode, yes, you’re hearing a bass guitar underneath, is called Taupe Heels because Amanda casually mentions that she applied for a new job! Melissa wondered if she’d have to dust off real work clothes like taupe heels, but no she does not. This has nothing to do with the episode at all but a long time ago when I was on Battle of the Network Reality Stars, one of the contestants from The Ama...

Oh look at the time! It’s Melissa Was Right Again O’Clock as Amanda reveals that a youngin’ in her household just got a phone! *confetti* No more waiting til 8th grade! Elsewhere in the episode, as the mother of three girls, Melissa really has no concept of what it truly means to be a boy mom. Amanda, the expert in handling the rough and tumble nature of her boys, enlightens Melissa on the wrestli...

Amanda says she’s been having feelings of living off the grid and taking up an Ace of Base level lonely life. Melissa tries to understand why she’s feeling this way. Could it be pandemic exhaustion? Through thoughtful discussion, they decide it’s that she can’t un-know what she now knows too well about our fractured American society. Plus, maybe it’s time to accept and work with (and not against)...

Amanda is excited about her big beautiful fridge. Melissa’s olfactory system is entirely too sensitive, but that doesn’t stop her from eating Benihana which she discovers Amanda also enjoys even though you leave there smelling like a grill top. Other commonalities these two discover — bread belongs in the fridge, mint is not a food flavor and don’t nobody got time for money management. It’s like t...

Don’t worry! Melissa doesn’t spend the entire hour (rightfully) fear mongering about the Delta variant going around in this still ongoing pandemic. She knows you enjoyed the Covid reprieve, but aht aht! The pandemic isn’t over just because you’re over it! On this episode, Amanda and Melissa discuss Delta a tiny smidge, but they also touch on insecurity (Amanda’s arm hair and Melissa’s teeth) and a...

Amanda and Melissa discuss how hard it is to find a bathing suit for 40-year-old women. Because Melissa ain’t trying to call attention to herself in a swimsuit, she’s doing David Blaine level magic tricks with poolside accessories like her straw hat that says “silently judging you.” Amanda tells Melissa that the hat is “cheugy.” What is cheugy? Pronounced CHOO-GEE like GIRL not JEE like Jesus (who...

2021 is the year of “like, realizing things” for Melissa. Melissa and Amanda discuss the true ins and outs and emotional costs of working outside the home (or in the home remotely while parenting). Amanda, who’s been known the struggle, gives Melissa some encouragement and suggests maybe she lower some of her hygiene and cleanliness standards. Them’s already low though, Melissa cries, as her feet...

Melissa and Amanda sit down for an illuminating discussion with astrologer Andy Bellatti to find out more about their serendipitous working relationship turned friendship. Known as synastry, synastry charts are used to examine relationships between two people, more specifically, how they may affect one another individually. Using information from both women’s birth charts, Andy was able to determi...

The episode you’ve been waiting for. Did Melissa survive the kibbutz in the Catskills? Listen to find out which Beck family member couldn’t hang. Want to support Amanda and Melissa, the strangers behind your favorite new podcast? Join our Patreon! It’s AMAZING if we do say so ourselves (and we do).  There you’ll find bonus content, episodes that never made air, IG Monday Night Lives you may have m...

Amanda patiently listens, like a friend would, as an overwhelmed Melissa wonders why the Prozac isn’t working yet. Then, Melissa is in deep panic about attending a kibbutz in the Catskills this coming weekend. Small talk, community bathrooms, outside, ticks, family togetherness — the woman is stressed and will not shut up about it because her husband had forbidden her from sharing her bad feelings...

Since a recurring theme around here is turning internet friends into IRL friends, Melissa introduces Amanda to her intimidatingly cool friend Jade. When multitalented Jade Verette, half of hilarious podcast Jade + XD and half of Gettin’ Grown with Keia and Jade, is not podcasting, she’s a busy mom, chef, and drank-maker (™). Sit back and enjoy as she and Amanda bully Melissa for not yet watching L...